TV transmitter infrastructure company Arqiva, which recently bought the technology platform for the knocked-out Project Kangaroo online VOD aggregator, will call the service “SeeSaw” after all – the same name planned by the BBCWW/ITV/C4 JV before it was ruled out by the Competition Commission.
“We’re delighted to confirm the name of SeeSaw for Arqiva’s VOD service,” said Pierre-Jean Sebert, whom Arqiva hired as the project’s CEO recently, as TV market and conference Mipcom began in Cannes on Monday (via Digital Spy).
“The project is on track to launch to market within the next few months. We will announce further details of the service in due course.”
Truth is, SeeSaw needs to announce content deals before Mipcom week is out if it is to make successful use of the big TV event. None have yet been made public, and none are thought to have been inked.
But it shouldn’t be that hard, especially at the buy-and-sell fest that is Mipcom. SeeSaw is, to all intents are purposes, the same Kangaroo the Competition Commission perversely ruled out on antitrust grounds, without the same ad sales and content acquisition concerns.
As a joint shareholder in the same Freeview consortium that was incorporated by Kangaroo’s own stakeholders (plus Sky), Arqiva is well placed to win those same signatures. But it has no track record in operating online or VOD ventures.